Insufficiency of Land Hinders Jewish Colonization in White Russia

“The problem of settling Jews on the land in White Russia is a most difficult one because White Russia has not sufficient land for this purpose,” Pristshepoff, head of the White Russian Agricultural Commissariat declared at the Conference of Jewish Landsettlers which is being held in Minsk.

There are now thirty thousand Jewish applicants for land which would require a strip not less than 31,600 desiatin, while the amount of land available is limited to 2,500 desiatin which can be cultivated and 1,500 desiatin which must be improved before cultivation. The rest must be obtained by melioration, which requires much capital and work. The White Russian Government hopes to be able to increase the amount of land for Jewish colonization to 10,000 desiatin during the course of the year.

The Conference adopted a resolution criticising the efforts of the Zionists to distract the attention of Jewish peasantry from agricultural work in Soviet Russia by fantastic tales of Palestine.”

According to the recent statistics the Jewish population in White Russia reaches the figure of 371,808, of which 189,540 are city dwellers and 20,000 are peasants. The rest live in the smaller towns and villages.